Other definitions of the area have been used or proposed over the years. For example, the Redcliffe-Maud Report produced by the Royal Commission on local government reform in 1969 recommended the creation of eight provinces. The proposed East Anglia province would have included northern Essex, southern Lincolnshire and a small part of Northamptonshire as well as Cambridgeshire, Norfolk and Suffolk.

The kingdom of the East Angles, formed about the year 520 by the merging of the North and the South Folk (Angles who had settled in the former lands of the Iceni during the previous century), was one of the seven Anglo-Saxonheptarchy kingdoms (as defined in the 12th century writings of Henry of Huntingdon). For a brief period following a victory over the rival kingdom of Northumbria around the year 616, East Anglia was the most powerful of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England, and its King Raedwald was Bretwalda (overlord of the Anglo-Saxons kingdoms). But this did not last: over the next forty years, East Anglia was defeated by the Mercians twice, and it continued to weaken relative to the other kingdoms until in 794, Offa of Mercia had its king Æthelberht killed and took control of the kingdom himself.

The independence of the East Anglians was restored by a successful rebellion against Mercia (825–827), in the course of which two Mercian kings were killed attempting to crush it. On 20 November 869 the Danes killed King Edmund and took the kingdom (see Ivar the Boneless). The Anglo-Saxons retook the area in 920, only to lose it again in 1015–1017, when it was conquered by Canute the Great and given as a fiefdom to Thorkell the Tall, who was made Jarl of East Anglia in 1017.

Large sections of East Anglia consisted of marshland and bogs until the 17th century, despite the construction of early sea barriers by the Roman Empire. During the 17th century the alluvial land was converted into arable land by means of systematic drainage using a collection of drains and river diversions. In the 1630s thousands of Puritan families from East Anglia settled in the American region of New England, taking much East Anglian culture with them.[5] East Anglia, with much of its earnings based on wool and textiles, was a rich area of England until the effects of the Industrial Revolution moved manufacturing to the Midlands and the North.

Norwich, with an urban population of 210,000, is the principal city in East Anglia

Parts of this area of England are characterised by the flatness of the land, partly consisting of fenland and reclaimed marshland, though much of Suffolk and Norfolk is gently undulating with glacial moraine ridges providing steeper hills in areas such as North Norfolk. The supposed flatness of the Norfolk landscape is noted in Noël Coward's Private Lives – "Very flat, Norfolk" – and the history of its waterways and drainage forms the backdrop to Graham Swift's novel Waterland. The area also figures in works by L.P. Hartley, Arthur Ransome and Dorothy L. Sayers, among many others.

East Anglia has a wide range of small-scale holiday resorts ranging from the traditional coastal towns of Felixstowe and Lowestoft in Suffolk and Great Yarmouth and Hunstanton in Norfolk to small fishing villages like Aldeburgh and Southwold in Suffolk. Other tourist attractions include historic towns like Bury St Edmunds, Cambridge and Ely as well as areas such as Constable Country, the Broads and the North Norfolk coast.

Although water plays a significant role in the fenland and broadland landscapes, the area is among the driest in the United Kingdom. During the summer months, tinder-dry conditions are frequently experienced, occasionally resulting in field and heath fires.

Maximum temperatures range from 5–10 °C (41–50 °F) in the winter to 20–25 °C (68–77 °F) in the summer, although temperatures have been known to reach 35 °C (95 °F) in recent years. Sunshine totals tend to be higher towards the coastal areas.[7]

Two of the counties of East Anglia, Norfolk and Suffolk, have no motorway links at all, with only small sections of the M11 and A1(M) running through Cambridgeshire. Main A roads such as the A12 and A47 link to the rest of the UK, with the A14 linking the Midlands to the Port of Felixstowe. This is the busiest container port in the UK, dealing with over 40% of container traffic and a major gateway port into the country.[citation needed]

Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft Enterprise Zone, an enterprise zone initiated by New Anglia Local Enterprise Partnership,[10] was announced in 2011 and launched in April 2012.[11] It includes six sites with a total area of 121 hectares (300 acres), which have attracted a number of energy-related businesses.[10] The sites are Beacon Park and South Denes in Great Yarmouth, Mobbs Way, Riverside Road and South Lowestoft Industrial Estate in Lowestoft and Ellough Business Park in Ellough near Beccles.[11]

Memorial to East Anglians who died during the First World War in Liverpool Street Station. The memorial, erected by the London Society of East Anglians, displays the flag

A shield of three golden crowns, placed two above one, on a blue background has been used a symbol of East Anglia for centuries. The coat of arms was ascribed by mediaeval heralds to the Anglo Saxon Kingdom of East Anglia and the Wuffingas dynasty which ruled it. The arms are effectively identical to the coat of arms of Sweden.

The three crowns appear, carved in stone, on the baptismal font (c.1400) in the parish church of Saxmundham,[13] and on the 15th century porch of Woolpit church, both in Suffolk.

The East Anglian flag as it is known today was proposed by George Henry Langham and adopted by the London Society of East Anglians (established in 1896). It superimposes the three crowns in a blue shield on a St George's cross. One does not need permission to fly the flag of East Anglia as it is an officially recognised historic flag.[citation needed]